Toverud is a farm in

Aurskog Aurskog is a former municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre was Aursmoen. Aurskog was the location of the Battle of Toverud. The parish of ''Urskog'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskaps ...

in the municipality of

Aurskog-Høland Aurskog-Høland is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bjørkelangen. The municipality of Rømskog, in Østfold county was m ...

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and the site of the Battle of Toverud (''Slaget ved Toverud''). During 1908 in connection with the centennial of the battle, the Toverud monument (''Toverudstøtta'') was erected at the site of the battle.

Battle of Toverud

In February 1808, Denmark-Norway was forced by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

to declare war on

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. On 14 April 1808 a Swedish brigade crossed the border and went west to

, Norway. After a brief but dramatic battle, Swedish commander Axel Otto Mörner (1774-1852) had to surrender. Danish nobleman Christian August of Augustenborg successfully commanded the army of Norway and compelled the numerically superior Swedish forces to withdraw behind the border after the Battle of Toverud on April 19–20, 1808. One contributory factor behind the poor performance of the Swedish invasion force in Norway was that

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

had invaded

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

on February 21, 1808 at the start of the

Finnish War The Finnish War (; ; ) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established a ...

. The two-front war proved disastrous for Sweden.''Russo-Swedish War 1808'' (Armed Conflict Events Database)
/ref> The success of Christian August both as a military commander at Toverud and in the subsequent battle on June 10, 1808 at Prestebakke in

Østfold Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...

, and as leader of the provisional government made him very popular in Norway. In 1808 Christian August was promoted to

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

, and in 1809 he became Governor-general of Norway. Prince Christian August was also held in high esteem within Sweden because he had refrained from pursuing the retreating army of Sweden while that country was hard pressed by Russia in the

. Consequently, Christian August was elected Crown Prince of Sweden as successor to the Swedish throne after the overthrow of the incompetent King

Gustav IV Adolf Gustav IV Adolf or Gustav IV Adolph (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was King of Sweden from 1792 until he was deposed in a coup in 1809. He was also the last Swedish monarch to be the ruler of Finland. The occupation of Finland in 180 ...

References

Other sources

*Skar, Johannes ''Um slaget ved Toverud. Prinsen av Augustenborg'' (Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1897) *Gjerset, Knut ''History of The Norwegian People'' (The Macmillan Company. 1915) *Elkan, Sophie ''An Exiled King, Gustaf Adolf IV of Sweden'' (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1913)

External links

Høland og Aurskog 1808
Akershus {{Norway-hist-stub no:Slaget ved Toverud